AN: I am going to try and post another chapter tonight, but wanted to get this one up! Anyone have any ideas what is happening? I had to make this a short chapter or else it would have been crazy long- which you will see in the next chapter!
It's forty-five minutes into the drive when you and Morgan find yourselves pulled over on the side of the road, comforting JJ as she continues to vomit.
"Hotch, is this normal?" Morgan asks, holding JJ's blonde hair back as she continues to get sick.
"I spoke with Reid, he thinks it may be a result of the pain medicine, that her body is just reacting to it." Although, your gut is telling you something completely different, you do not believe this is normal. JJ is sick, confused, unable to lift her head without vomiting.
"This is more than a reaction." He says as JJ heaves again, you wonder how she has anything left in her stomach. "Maybe call the hospital, see if we need to bring her back?"
You nod your head in agreement and grab your phone, before dialing the number of the hospital emergency room. In a stroke of luck, you are able to reach Bruce, the nurse who had taken care of JJ earlier in the evening.
You tell him everything that has happened, how JJ woke up and immediately asked to get out of the car, how she had actually tried to get out of the car, and how she had been vomiting for nearly twenty minutes. He asks numerous questions before reassuring you that it sounds like a reaction to the pain medication, just like Reid had suggested.
"Does she have a fever?" Bruce asks, and you appreciate him taking the time to spend on the phone with you; you know he is busy.
Gently, you place the back of your hand to JJ's forehead. "No," Although she is sweaty, but you attribute that to the vomiting that is now, thankfully slowing.
"If she develops a fever, or if the vomiting continues, you will need to bring her back." Bruce directs you and you know that will be a battle getting JJ back to the emergency room. "See if you can get her some ice chips to suck on, that may help. We just don't want her getting dehydrated."
Bruce provides you a few more helpful tips before you hang up the phone and walk back towards JJ and Morgan. You smile when you see JJ sitting up, her breathing regulating.
"Hi Hotch." Her voice is horse, soft.
"Hi JJ, how are you feeling?"
She nods. "I've been better." She no longer looks green, but she defiantly does not look good.
"I just spoke with the nurse at the emergency room."
"No." She shakes her head. "I'll be fine, I just want to get home."
"I figured you'd say that. Are you okay to get back in the car?" You ask, concern building in your stomach. There is so much 'off' with JJ, and nothing you can pinpoint, nothing you cannot blame on the drugs. But your gut is telling you it is not the pain medicine, that something else is happening.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Even the pitch of her voice is off, her color, her body language, her mannerisms. And when you help Morgan to lift her off the ground, even the shear weakness in her is concerning. But you know better, you know better then to question your highly independent agent.
"We know you are tough," Morgan says, gently helping her into the backseat. "That's not in question. Just let us know if you start to feel worse, okay?" His hand is gentle as he rubs the back of her head, a brotherly gesture.
JJ smiles, but doesn't speak. And your worry only increases. Something is very wrong.